It's been eight months since the publication of my book on SOA, "The New Language of Business: SOA and Web 2.0." During that time it has become one of the best-selling IBM books. I've really enjoyed hearing from those of you who have read it. Thank you for all your comments - and please keep them coming!

One thing I do hear is where people can order the book. It's available online at the IBM Press Website or on Amazon - so check it out!

OR use this URL for the buyer to access the book quickly without searching for it.visit Quick Direct Hit

IBMers can order a copy of the Full book or Mini book directly and receive a 35% discount through the IBM Press Website using the coupon code: CARTER654X and ISBNs: 013195654X - The New Language of Business, during the checkout process (promotion available until end of October 2007). Bulk orders are available at a 65% discount rate. Order your copy today! IBM Press Booksvisit IBM Press Books

Also, please feel free to email Anindo Dey who would be happy to help you with your order.

Commentary--One of the most valuable and often overlooked benefits of an Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) strategy is the impact it has on the general population. From helping reduce home energy bills, to saving money on car insurance, to safeguarding your retirement investments, SOA is quickly becoming a critical (albeit invisible) ally for today's consumers. Below are five examples illustrating how SOA is playing a role in our everyday lives: 1. SOA can reduce your energy bill. Consider the Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL)'s Olympic Peninsula Demand Response Demonstration study that's being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. PNNL is working with 300 volunteers in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula and Gresham, Oregon to monitor home electricity usage and billing. The homeowners set how much they want to spend per month on energy and are alerted when usage should be modified to defray strain on the National Grid and stay within the established monthly charges. Invisible to the consumer, the SOA connects PNNL with the participants so that they can exchange information about real-time pricing information on their energy usage and costs as well as the consumer's impact on the National Grid. 2. SOA helps identify and prevent consumer insurance fraud.When a consumer applies for life insurance, an insurer or healthcare provider usually consults with MIB, the largest specialty consumer reporting agency for insurance fraud detection in North America. An association of more than 500 health and life insurance companies, MIB was created to provide consumers and insurance providers with vital underwriting information about life, health, disability, income, critical illness, and long-term care insurance. MIB has created an SOA to allow its subscribers to detect potential fraud based on facts such as the applicant’s insurance and medical history; the proximity of marriage, establishment of a life insurance policy and a spouse’s untimely death, and the frequency of auto accidents resulting in medical claims. The SOA is vital to MIB identify and prevent insurance fraud that impacts the overall cost of insurance to every consumer. 3. SOA can save you money on car insurance.Since insurance rates are regulated by each state, there is little margin for competitive pricing, which leaves the local and regional players facing serious competition against the national carriers. However, AAA Carolinas used its small size and flexible infrastructure to its advantage as it built an SOA that boosted its customer acquisition and retention rate by 60 percent in just a few years. Specifically, AAA Carolinas used its SOA to cross-reference customer information from its 30 regional offices to create unique marketing campaigns based on customers’ individual needs such as insurance discounts for carrying one or more policies or travel discounts for members who purchase an insurance policy, etc. By providing more compelling offers on insurance, credit cards, etc. AAA Carolinas was able to shave part of their profit margin in order to capture greater revenue gains through their innovative offerings. 4. SOA will help protect you in an emergency. An SOA is behind the efforts of the St. Louis Area Regional Response System (STARRS) to improve response times in an emergency--from a simple traffic accident to a large-scale disaster. Until recently, local hospital and first responders communicated via a 30 year old radio system so you can imagine the challenges this presented with regard to tracking and triaging victims. The STARRS emergency patient tracking system enables first responders to relay patient data from the scene of the incident to hospitals and other authorized public officials in real time while providing a complete view of the situation so that emergency personnel can be diverted as the situation dictates. 5. SOA can safeguard your retirement investments. Imagine yourself on a telecon strategy session with an Ameriprise advisor to discuss the status of your early retirement plan. Securely integrated and displayed on the advisor’s computer screen is your portfolio, scrolling stock tickers, links to execute stock trades, international news headlines, and various other applications that are used to assist the advisor in making sound financial decisions. The ability to easily integrate these various sources of information and better advise clients on financial strategies is one of the many benefits of Ameriprise’s SOA. These successful SOA examples can--and are--being replicated by energy providers, insurers, financial services companies, and federal and local municipalities worldwide. From these scenarios it’s clear to see the value that an SOA can deliver in boosting customer satisfaction and a company’s bottom line.[Read More]

Our upcoming launch will really emphasize the value of metrics and knowing what information is really going to help you make better business decisions!

Thinking through this you can see that: -All decisions are not equal.. need to know which decisions you need to put most focus on accuracy.. -Identify the key information needed for decision making ... & where it resides in your organization -Make sure that information is accurate & up-to-date at the time at time of decision, and delivered to the decision maker in time & in context... -Make sure that all stake holders in the decision share a common vocabulary regarding the information inputs and decision parameters.. -Have the ability to measure the quality of their decision making over time, and their ability to evolve it .. and constantly work to continuously improve both measurements

This is all related to SOA as SOA gives you the agility and KPIs through BPM enabled by SOA to address some of these questions!

In a related topic, here's the beginning of metrics first of how to determine if SOA can be sold to your board.....ROI being the critical metric! How do you help them decide.....!Visit How to Measure the Value of SOA